People of the Year

In promoting ‘the magic of abilities’, Alam’s work at Mitti Café has helped to change the lives of thousands of people and – equally importantly – to inspire countless more, notably with the support of the airport community in India.

Mitti Café is now accelerating the next chapters of its inspirational and pioneering collaboration with airports, as new outlets enter the pipeline and as more lives as transformed. Her inclusion in this list for the second consecutive year is both richly deserved and a testament to the magic of abilities.

Overseeing this record-breaking performance at the world’s number one travel retailer at a single location is Managing Director Ramesh Cidambi, who assumed the role on 1 June 2024 from long-time Executive Vice Chairman & CEO Colm McLoughlin (who sadly passed away on 30 October last year).

Against a backdrop of much uncertainty about Dubai Duty Free’s future – with a government decision on whether to outsource or to remain in-house delayed over many months – Cidambi has led this vast operation with clarity, purpose and skill, demonstrating all of the expertise and experience he has accumulated over almost 40 years with the company. Moreover, he has brought a freshness of thinking that has been clearly instrumental to 2025’s impressive results.

Cidambi’s short tenure to date has seen a maintaining of the investment pipeline but crucially positioned alongside a well-focused emphasis on profitability.

The company has embraced and encouraged a wave of launches across categories, helped sustain the Dubai Chocolate wave and delivered a resurgence in a luxury fashion business that was stagnating a year ago.

Just as we went to press, Dubai Duty Free posted another all-time sales high, this time for its anniversary day, 20 December, with revenues up +15.2% to AED69.1 million (US$19 million). That represents another cherry on a cake that will be finally baked on 31 December with a 42-year annual sales record.

Whatever Dubai Duty Free’s future holds, Ramesh Cidambi has proven a cakemaker extraordinaire in ensuring this industry powerhouse extends its reach, revenue and reputation amid a simultaneously tumultuous and triumphant year.

Since joining SSP UK & Ireland in 2023, Daniels has reshaped the company’s culture and positioned inclusion at the heart of its business. Her leadership has overseen the SSP UK & Ireland Executive Board becoming made up of 50% women – the highest proportion in the company’s history – while employee engagement on fairness and belonging has surged, outperforming recognised global benchmarks in independent surveys conducted with Gallup.

She has also overseen a dramatic expansion of SSP’s colleague networks, which now count nearly 1,000 members across six communities: Global Senior Women Leaders, Women, Ethnicity, Menopause, Neurodiversity and LGBTQ+. Every senior leader in SSP UK & Ireland has completed ‘Inclusive Leadership’ training, embedding accountability into the company’s management culture.

Such a track record – one that clearly is far from finished – makes Kari Daniels’ inclusion in this year’s list not only justified but a critically important precedent.

Reflecting on women in leadership, Ermaner highlighted the strengths women bring to business. “Women have more empathy, more sincerity… they can demonstrate authentic leadership, and the key is to have the self-confidence and courage to lead bigger teams and ask for what you want,” she contended.

Ermaner also addressed the internal barriers women face, urging peers to speak confidently about their achievements, noting: “Sometimes we create the barriers in our own minds. We need to break these barriers and trust ourselves – it will open many paths ahead in business.”

Which is exactly what the admirable Beste Ermaner is doing. A role model for our industry, for women in travel retail and, no doubt, for Philip Morris International.

Her influence stretches well beyond her own business, with senior board positions on leading companies and representative bodies in South Africa, alongside active committee participation in ACI Africa, the voice of airports in the region.

Long an active member of the Middle East and Africa Duty Free Association (MEADFA), Maponya gained deserved recognition this year when she was elected Vice President – a role she fulfils alongside being a proactive member of MEADFA’s forward-thinking Advocacy Committee.

Expect Maponya’s strong voice for Africa – backed by her leadership skills and deep market expertise – to resonate even more loudly in 2026 and beyond.

In her Blog, which generated a phenomenal response, Sinead wrote, “I do not know if I will win this fight, but I will give it my best shot. I want to use this time to do some good, to give something back.

“If my talking about my illness can result in even one person having their cancer detected earlier or one person being saved or we can raise money for new treatment options for people in my position, then at least something good will come from all this bad. Cancer may not believe in karma, but I will make my own.”

And from those words, #KickCancerThon was born – a global but localised fundraiser and visibility campaign for cancer research taking place between now and March. You can read all the details here but already the campaign has generated an enormous amount of support from the travel retail community.

We will be supporting #KickCancerThon with every ounce of energy we possess. We urge you to join us. And very proudly we make an exception to our rule and include The Moodie Davitt Report’s very own Sinead Moodie as one of our People of the Year.

A flurry of Frontier Awards (including Airport Retailer of the Year), a record financial year – +12% sales growth vs a +7.7 pax increase – and some 30 new retail and F&B concepts individually and collectively speak to a story not only of innovation but of resounding success.

One supplier lauded QDF’s unveiling of groundbreaking data-sharing platform 36Q at The Trinity Forum 2024. “The work QDF has done on sharing data with a platform accessible to all brand partners, along with use of technology on store heatmaps, and shopper and passenger flow to utilise pre- and post-store communication is best in class,” he said.

“This futuristic thinking is what will enable the next phase of growth in our channel and we need more stakeholders in the industry to take a similar approach.”

Another business partner said: “He is the true innovative leader in airport retail & F&B. Under Tab’s leadership (and I know he is the driver of this), QDF is demanding of brand owners to try even harder and push the thinking deeper to deliver exceptional and unique shopper experiences.”

High praise indeed. And with a rich pipeline of projects ahead for 2026 and beyond, this story of passion, partnerships and a large dose of pizzazz offers many exciting chapters ahead.

The reader poll results speak for themselves. His beloved Liverpool Football Club may not be but Thabet Musleh is indeed top of the pops this Christmas.

That progressive approach is also evidenced by the commercial team’s active category management to drive conversion and spend; the recent creation of a customer experience unit within the department to seek out the next big idea; and by the ambition to drive digital services as a complement to the impressive physical store offer.

While rightly taking pride in the landmark terminal opening earlier this year, as ever for Onkelbach and team, tomorrow is what matters most.

A true champion of social impact initiatives, Taratuty is also Director of the highly active Fundación Grupo London Supply, which channels all group social responsibility actions, with the Barrio 1° de Mayo Educational Park in Puerto Iguazú a notable highlight.

With such a powerful social and community advocate as María Taratuty, London Supply’s credentials as a responsible corporate citizen are in safe hands as the Argentine company enters its 84th year in business.

The transformation since then has seen the company diversify geographically, balance its mix of channel across air, road, rail and leisure resorts, and strengthen its F&B position in key markets such as Spain, Portugal, France and Italy.

In the past two-and-a-half years, Areas has also won ten major tenders, which will represent an additional €3 billion in revenue over the coming eight to ten years.

The completion of the THS transaction in early December marks a new stage in this acceleration as Areas, led by the softly spoken but highly determined Vela, seeks to build on its position as a multi-channel, multinational player in the ultra-competitive F&B space.

His category vision for travel retail, anchored in Lindt GTR’s ambition to “add confectionery to every basket by 2030,” has become a rallying call for retailers seeking new growth drivers in an increasingly competitive environment.Battling legislation that seeks to restrict the sale of tobacco is a constant, while labelling and other challenges facing wines & spirits, beauty and confectionery are becoming more acute. Arrivals duty free represents a positive opportunity, one that remains a live topic at EU and UK level.

For Lindt Global Travel Retail, 2025 has been defined by the spectacular success of Lindt Dubai Style Chocolate. Inspired by the original Dubai Chocolate, the Lindt variation quickly turned into a global travel retail phenomenon. The line’s debut at Zurich Airport sold out within 15 minutes even under a one-per-person limit, a telling indicator of immediate demand.

The product’s roll-out was rapidly accelerated and by end-November Lindt Dubai Style Chocolate was available in more than 150 airports worldwide and is now Lindt GTR’s top-performing SKU. What a result for a product less than a year old.

But Lindt didn’t just ride and adapt a pre-created wave. In early December, the Swiss house made our headlines again when, in partnership with Avolta, it unveiled a limited-edition, travel retail-exclusive for Club Avolta members, Lindt Tokyo Style Chocolate – Matcha Strawberry, at Zurich Airport.

And when we say limited edition we mean really limited. As in just 100 handcrafted, personalised and hand-numbered tablets made available to Club Avolta members at the Swiss gateway’s Lindt Boutique on 4 December only. The limited-edition formula was repeated with Aelia Duty Free in Geneva Airport and Frankfurt Airport Retail at Frankfurt Airport. Again with instant success.

You’ve heard of sell-through in duty free. But it’s rarely you’ll see sold out. Truly a matcha made in travel retail heaven.